Last night’s vice presidential debate covered several issues pertaining to the economy, foreign policy, immigration and even faith – for a brief moment.

When debate moderator Elaine Quijano asked, “Can you discuss in detail a time when you struggled to balance your personal faith and a public policy position?” both U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) talked about reproductive rights.

As we mentioned earlier today on this blog, yesterday was “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” an annual event during which Religious Right groups try to persuade religious leaders to break federal law by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

Yesterday was “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” an annual event sponsored by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a large Religious Right legal group, during which members of the clergy are urged to violate federal law by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office from the pulpit.

Good news from Alabama: Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended from the court without pay for the remainder of his term.

Technically, Moore has not been removed from office, but today’s decision by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary has that effect. He has been suspended for the rest of his term, and he can’t run again because Alabama law prohibits anyone older than 70 from being appointed to or elected to the bench. (Moore will turn 70 in February.)

Seventy-two-year-old Neal Frey has a really interesting, yet sad, way of spending his days. A “textbook analyst,” he puts on his fundamentalist Christian lenses and scrutinizes Texas’ future educational materials.

The Nevada Supreme Court just decided to permanently block funding for a massive statewide school voucher program, which is great news for supporters of both church-state separation and public education.

In two cases decided today, the Nevada high court struck down S.B. 302, the law that created a voucher program to divert taxpayer dollars from public schools to private schools.

Alabama’s anti-gay chief justice, Roy Moore, was on trial before a state ethics board yesterday. He stands accused of instructing Alabama officials to defy the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision. Based on media reports, it seems the longtime foe of Americans United didn’t make a very strong case for keeping his job.

But before we get to that, here’s a recap of events leading up to this point:

Last week, AU Legislative Director Maggie Garrett and I traveled throughout North Carolina to talk with faith leaders about the need to keep faith communities out of partisan politics as well as religious freedom legislation at both the state and federal levels.

We made stops in Greenville, Durham, Charlotte and Asheville. The people of North Carolina, particularly the AU chapter leaders and leaders with the North Carolina Council of Churches with whom we partnered, are incredibly gracious and hospitable. North Carolina is certainly a beautiful state. I loved our time there.